The High Point University men's track & field team has added seven student-athletes for the 2010-11 campaign, announced head coach Mike Esposito. Distance runners Patrick Crawford, Jacob Roach and John Yankello, field athletes Max Coleman, Tristan Faure and Steven Scally as well as hurdler Ryan Venable will join the Panthers this fall.
"We addressed our first need with three strong distance runners who have the capability to be the top freshmen in the conference," said HPU head coach Mike Esposito. "They all come from winning backgrounds and we're looking for them to help us right away in cross country. We also were able to add throwers and jumpers, two areas that we were lacking."
A local from Kernersville, N.C., Crawford was state cross country champion as a senior at East Forsyth High School. In addition to his state cross country title, he was three-time conference champ, three-time region champ and earned All-Conference honors all four years. This spring, he won both the 1,600-meter and 3,200-meter at the NCHSAA 4A Midwest Regional before placing third in both events at the state championship. He has career bests of 1:57 in the 800-meter, 4:16 in the 1,600 and 9:19 in the 3,200 and was conference champ in all three events this spring.
Roach is originally from Orange County, Calif., and attended Otay Ranch High School in Chula Vista. A four-year letterman in both cross country and track & field, he set career bests of 1:58 in the 800-meter, 4:20 in the 1,600 and 9:12 in the 3,200, winning conference titles in the 3,200 as a junior and senior. He was first-team All-Conference all four years and was an All-Section honoree as well. He helped lead his team to four conference titles on the track and three in cross country.
Yankello, of Sewickley, Pa., attended Quaker Valley High School in neighboring Leetsdale. He competed at the varsity level in both cross country and track & field all four years and posted career bests of 2:01 in the 800-meter, 4:26 in the 1,600-meter and 9:41 in the 3,200-meter. He was a four-time district medalist in cross country and earned five medals on the track. He was conference champ in cross country and the 3,200-meter in track. Last weekend, Yankello ran the lead-off leg of the state champion 4x800 relay, which ran a time of 7:46.46.
Coleman joins HPU as a sprinter and jumper out of Trumbull High School in Trumbull, Conn. He set the school record of 22-10 in the long jump and was conference and FCIAC champ in that event as a senior. He also posted All-Conference performance as a member of the 4x100 relay. He also has career bests of 6-0 in the high jump and 11.2 in the 100-meter dash. Coleman also played three seasons of varsity basketball.
Faure is a native of Averill Park, N.Y., and competed in the long jump, 400-meter and pentathlon for Averill Park High School. He was team MVP as a senior and won the divisional pentathlon. He holds a career best of 2,845 points in the pentathlon. Averill Park was Southern Suburban Council champ.
Scally hails from Sandusky, Ohio, where he was a four-year member of the Sandusky High School track & field team and qualified for the district meet every season. He earned All-Conference honorable mention as a junior and was second-team All-District as a senior, touting personal bests of 162-9 in the discus and 51-0 in the shot put. He also played two years of football and ran cross country for one season.
A hurdler and jumper, Venable is originally from Franklin, Tenn., and attended Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville. He has career-bests of 15.00 in the 110-meter hurdles, 41.10 in the 300-meter hurdles and 6-2 in the high jump and scored at the Tennessee state championship in all three events. He was a member of the winning hurdle relay and won the high jump at the 2010 Doug Hall Relays.
This year, High Point University finished fourth at the Big South Indoor Championship and took fifth at the Big South Outdoor Championship. The Panthers return most of their squad that was runner-up at the 2009 Big South Cross Country Championship.